No fighters allowed

Want to boot BG1EE again.
Party group suggestion that is based on:
mages, clerics, druids & bards (Jaheira allowed, as well as fightermages & other dual & multis)
Preferably all female power party if you can.

- Charname F/M
- Shar-Teel dualled to thief (epic backstabbing). At lvl 6 if you can wait that long with your fighter ban, but 3 seems also viable
- Dynaheir, dump Minsc in a house somewhere so he can stroke his hamster day and night
- Branwen has good DEX and decent CON. STR isn't that great, but can be augmented with draw upon holy might and that Tempus ability. With spiritual hammer she hits 1d4+2 the first levels with a thac0 bonus of 1, which is actually pretty good considering you get her as early as chapter 1.
- Jaheira fits as well
- Imoen dualled at 6 maybe

Are you rolling with any mods or no? If yes, you could potentially get earlier access to Alora and Faldorn.

As far as power party goes, I think @Gatekeep3r has great ideas, especially since dualing Shar-Teel would make her a concession for the no-fighter rule. You'll need a man, however, temporarily to get ST to join you.

Some proposed tweaks to the plan:

CHARNAME F/I is nice for the shorty saves and extra spells. Dualing Imoen to mage will cover any holes in your CHARNAME spell book. Another idea would be a bard PC of some sort. They're excellent in BG1 and the only NPCs are male. Sorcerer would be sweet too.

I prefer Viconia over Branwen for the cleric slot, but it's splitting hairs.

Sounds like a great approach. Please report back and let us know what you choose and how it goes.

Agree with butteredsoul. If you really want to adhere to no-fighter policy a blade could be a decent compromise, F/I is strong though and would definitely make for an easier run.

Let charname be male, or keep Minsc/Khalid temporarily for the duel with Shar Teel. You won't need either of these boys after that so send them to the slaughter in their birthday suits. They might look nice in Mutamin's Garden if you prefer a more aesthetic option.

Only change I would make is to drop Jaheira for Faldorn at Cloakwood. Keep the fighters to minimum in the late game to get the most out of your concept. Between Faldorn's high level casting abilities and the dread wolf summon you will find that her weak stats are more than compensated for.

@Very_BigSword has a very good point about Faldorn. I kind of forgot about her because I have a huge dislike for her personality. She's probably the best divine caster in the game. Call Woodland Beings is great for when your cleric is out of healing spells and the nymphs pack quite a punch anyway. Goodberries is also very useful to cure minor wounds without wasting better healing spells. Her dread wolf has some nice resistances as well and hits a d10.

@butteredsoul I would prefer Viconia over Branwen any day, but not so much in a party with no fighters. In BG2 is wouldn't matter that much because you can buff a cleric to the point that he's a demigod, but in BG1 I would personally prefer a cleric with better stats. Although Vicky's MR is very, very cool... Not an easy choice!

Are Faldorn's dread wolf and Tiax's ghoul counted against the summoning limit or are they handled like a familiar? I've never taken them with me because you meet them so late (same for Eldoth, Skie & Alora).

In Baldur's Gate II you can employ Viconia's Charm Undead ability even against non-undead opponents. What you need is a mage with a wisdom score of less than 10 and the Limited Wish spell. "I wish to be protected from undead right now."

The annoying thing about a Blade in BG:EE is that you need to carry out Dorn's quest I think to get the Elven Chain, so you can actually wear armour. I love running Bards in BG now, hated them with a passion in vanilla, even though that was my first PC back in the 90s. So, a F/I is much stronger, but what about something a little more interesting, how about an I/C multi? You can still hit 20 wisdom in BGEE, and 20 Int might be nice if you are playing with non-guaranteed casts, and you'd get access to Animate Dead, which an Illusionist doesn't get normally. You're still a solid fighter with Buffs, though a tankier one rather than a high APR type, but you should be hitting like a truck I'd think, as you can manage 19 strength pre-buff. Go all out maybe, and even give yourself 18 cons and use the Claw of Kazgoroth (sp?). Dunno how that interacts with shorty saves, if at all. I think the ring doesn't, but I'd double check with an expert maybe. It gives big bonus' though, so unless you want to wear the Rings of Wizardry and Holiness, I'd go with the Claw, though RoP +2 is viable, as the Cloak shares it's slot with Balduran's, which is a top pick. Then again, your party can use some of this stuff too.

So yeah, a cheesey power gamey I/C is my suggestion. For party, I'd take Immy, Branwen, Neera (for the fun factor!), Shar-Teel and dual her early, then maybe Coran and make him wear the Girdle of Gender Swap? Your caster could probably tank quite well, and your party could be archer heavy, with Shar using throwing daggers perhaps. I'd consider Keepering her to have spec in daggers if you do. Coran makes for a decent archer, and can help cover thief duties quite well, meaning you might even have trap setting. You can also dual Immy as soon as you get Coran, or even Shar, but I'd like to have Shar be a stealth based thief, and not a utility thief, while Coran does fine as a utility thief with his high dex. If thats too many thieves, you could try Faldorn. She's a beast when I use her, with some pretty handy spells later on, and you don't have to put up with the downright shitty low levels of Druid casting, which are embarrassingly bad.